Madhur Bhandarkar not remaking Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy

Even though it was recently reported that Madhur Bhandarkar is presenting Avijatrik, which will take forward Satyajit Ray’s The Apu Trilogy, the Indu Sarkar director has been facing flak on social media for even thinking of attempting a remake of the legendary filmmaker’s much-celebrated The Apu Trilogy —Pather Panchali (1955), Aparajito (1956) and The World Of Apu (1959). That’s not all, someone even came up with a petition to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to ‘stop Madhur Bhandarkar from creating a fourth Apu film’.

Yesterday, Bhandarkar shared a statement putting these rumours to rest. He stated, “The right perspective, let me say, is that we are not remaking any of the films that were part of The Apu Trilogy made by master director Satyajit Ray. The film which Bhandarkar Entertainment is presenting is Avijatrik, which based on the novel written by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, on which Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy was based and producer Gaurang Jalan has taken the rights of the book from late Shri Bandopadhyay’s family. In Avijatrik, Bengali filmmaker Subhrajit Mitra is taking the story forward from where Ray sir left it and the reason I decided to get associated with the project is the script and the passion of filmmaker Subhrajit Mitra with which he intends to make the film. We are not touching the films made by Satyajit Ray. I’m a big fan of the legendary filmmaker who helped Indian cinema reach global audiences. We are in no way tampering with the classics he made. He is and will always be an inspiration to filmmakers not only in India but across the world.”